Honestly--I know this is all good comedy and I don't want to sound preachy--but is there a possibility your roommate may be mentally ill? How old is he? How long has he been acting this way? Would you describe him as exuberant, convinced of his own superior knowledge, excessively detail-oriented or irritable lately? How long has this been going on?
If he's just having fun, then never mind. But if he genuinely believes this stuff right now, he might be bipolar and having his first major manic episode, which can be and often is accompanied by psychosis and paranoid ideations not unlike what you describe. I'm not a doctor, and in any case you shouldn't seek medical advice on a message board, but if you're genuinely worried about him you need to get him in to see a professional stat. This behaviour doesn't sound normal to me.
I dunno. This doesn't sound any crazier than the crap the Mormon's dish out on my doorstep or Benny Hinn shouts out from my TV screen. I say we all are free to have our own beliefs... no matter how crazy I think they are.
Honestly--I know this is all good comedy and I don't want to sound preachy--but is there a possibility your roommate may be mentally ill? How old is he? How long has he been acting this way? Would you describe him as exuberant, convinced of his own superior knowledge, excessively detail-oriented or irritable lately? How long has this been going on?
If he's just having fun, then never mind. But if he genuinely believes this stuff right now, he might be bipolar and having his first major manic episode, which can be and often is accompanied by psychosis and paranoid ideations not unlike what you describe. I'm not a doctor, and in any case you shouldn't seek medical advice on a message board, but if you're genuinely worried about him you need to get him in to see a professional stat. This behaviour doesn't sound normal to me.
Well he doesn't seem mentally ill. He is quite well-spoken and tries at least to support his arguments (which inevitably leads to "some great scientists say so" which is always easily countered with "in what journal?"). He reads a lot of books on metaphysics and weird science, about alternate realities etc.
He got into the 2012 kick, which has obviously led him to this stuff.
I guess I just don't want to make him feel stupid when he has convinced himself of all this stuff. I tend to let him prattle on. I have a degree in zoology so if it gets down to it I can rebut anything he says about biology and evolution (which is all hearsay anyway, since he hasn't read any of the primary literature where all these findings are supposedly presented).
Part of it is I can't be bothered. He loves to go on and on about this stuff and when I get home from work at night there are things I would rather do than exert my energy needlessly convincing him how crazy these ideas are. But yeah it gets a bit tiresome after awhile.
Does it affect his life at all? If I thought the world was coming to an end in 3.5 years, I'd have some very different ideas and be doing some different things than I do right now.
Come to think of it, not much would change for me. Right now I think "these cigarettes and this booze is going to kill me eventually", but if I thought the end was nigh I'd think "I should smoke and drink more".
Really though, if someone honestly believes the world is going to end soon, they could make some crazy decisions. I know I would. And then when I woke up on December 24th, 2012, I'd wake up wishing I had been right, because I'd be in real trouble.
Location: In a land without pants, or war, or want. But mostly we care about the pants.
Exp:
Some people just like to believe crazy stuff to be "different". Or they feel energized by the idea that they know the TRUTH and the rest of us are all poor, deluded fools. Or are completely unaware that they are batsh** insane.
If it was me, I'd just say something like, "You know, we're never going to agree about this stuff so why even discuss it?" And whenever he brought it up I'd say something similar again, until either he gave up, or I was forced to use an axe to send him to the great starchild gathering beyond the sky.
__________________
Better educated sadness than oblivious joy.
It's actually the end of the mayan calendar, I believe that's the reason people think the world will end...
Splitting hairs but isn't it Dec. 21, 2012 or something? All the numbers are there though. I wonder how this is affecting the poor guy's life, like was said earlier, if I truly believed my life had a fixed end date that I knew about in advance, I'd not be paying my mortgage!
Even if I ignore my chemistry background and ignore that I know things can indeed self-assemble (a large amount of research is being done on this...it's a hot topic), and i accept that Aliens intervened in the evolution of life on earth I am still always left with one question.....What other aliens intervened so our alien creators evolved and so on and so forth. Go down the line and eventually self assembly had to occur or God(s) exist. If the latter who created them?
Winston Zeddmore: Hey, wait a minute. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hey. Hold it! Now, are we actually gonna go before a federal judge, and tell him that some moldy Babylonian God is going to drop in on Central Park West, and start tearing up the city?!
Dr. Egon Spengler: Sumerian, not Babylonian.
Dr. Peter Venkman: Yeah. Big difference.
Winston Zeddmore: No offense, guys, but I've gotta get my own lawyer.
Honestly--I know this is all good comedy and I don't want to sound preachy--but is there a possibility your roommate may be mentally ill? How old is he? How long has he been acting this way? Would you describe him as exuberant, convinced of his own superior knowledge, excessively detail-oriented or irritable lately? How long has this been going on?
If he's just having fun, then never mind. But if he genuinely believes this stuff right now, he might be bipolar and having his first major manic episode, which can be and often is accompanied by psychosis and paranoid ideations not unlike what you describe. I'm not a doctor, and in any case you shouldn't seek medical advice on a message board, but if you're genuinely worried about him you need to get him in to see a professional stat. This behaviour doesn't sound normal to me.
I agree with you 100%, I would necessarily take this too lightly, would be worried for my own safety really. I would think about moving if I were you.
I think the tack to take isn't to refute each individual idea, but to someone educate your friend on the workings of the human mind and *why* people believe strange things. Demon Haunted World is a great book for this, see if you can get him to read it with an open mind.
Real science is far more interesting than any pseudoscience crap, maybe start feeding him real stuff and see if that replaces the fake science.
__________________ Uncertainty is an uncomfortable position.
But certainty is an absurd one.
My roommate has been persuaded by the site http://www.lloydpye.com/ that some aliens called the Annunaki, from an undiscovered planet in our solar system, showed up on earth, modified hominoid DNA, gave the Samarians corn and ploughs, built the pyramids, and made us mine for gold for them.
Oh and I nearly forgot: they are coming back in 2012 and there is going to be hell to pay.
He is honestly convinced of all this and my girlfriend and I are worried about him.
This is exactly what someone who's mind has been manipulated by the annunaki would want to do. Convince the masses that they dont exist and that everything will be fine...that way when they do come...BAM! no one expects it....well you wont get me with your clever little scheme. Excuse me while I go make me a new tinfoil hat
__________________
Thank you for not discussing the outside world
You can't argure with people who have "Faith" in what they believe..
There are hundreds of millions of people in the world who believe someone named Jesus is gonna come back and tear doors of hinges, and only take the believers back into the void with him...... They haven't set an offical "date" yet, but other then they how is it any different then the OP's buddy? Why aren't we interveing with them?
________ Wendie 99
Last edited by metal_geek; 05-06-2011 at 12:18 AM.
